Recording-pen.



No. 890,261.. PATENTED JUNE 9, 1908. G. G. CLAWSON. REGORDNG PEN.

APPLIGATION FILED IAB.. 16. 1907.

CLEMENT C. CLAWSON, OF FLAGTOWN, NEW JERSEY.

RECORDING-PEN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Original application filed October 1, 1906, Serial No. 336,923.

Patented .Tune 9, 1908.

Divided and this application filed March 16, 1907.

Serial No. 362,704.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, CLEMENT C. CLAwsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Flagtown, in the county of Somerset and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Recording- Pens, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates more particularly to pens for marking the record blanks of speed recorders and analogous a paratus in order to make a note thereon ofinformation of whatever kind may be desired, say the speed at which an automobile provided with the speed recorder is traveling, or the temperature at various times of the atmosphere to which an appropriate apparatus is exposed, or signals transmitted telegraphically or otherwise to an apparutus adapted to record them, and so on. And it consists in a new or improved recording pen for all the uses to which such pen may be adapted. Such pen in its best form embodies a number of features, some at least of which are capable of use apart from others; and it will consequently be understood that the pen can be varied indefinitely within the limits of the invention, so long as the substance is taken of any one or more of the claims at the end of this specification.

The accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, illustrate the pen in what is considered its best form the same as my application of October 1, 1906, No. 336,923, of which the present application is a division and continuation, made solely in consequence of official requirement of division. The parts, in connection with which the pen is herein shown, are shown in the drawings of my said application of October 1, 1906, as elements of speed recorders, therein fully set forth. They are shown herein merely by way of example.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the pen and said parts, Fig. 2 is a face view of the same; and Fig. 3 is a view showing the pen reservoir in vertical longitudinal section.

As shown the frame of the recorder consists of a box, ofwhich the drawings herein exhibit portions only of the ends a, back b, bottom c, and division plate c, this last being parallel with the bottom. As shown the pen 11, with ink reservoir 12 is mounted on a leaf spring 13, which constitutes the long arm of a lever 13, 14, of unequal arms fulcrumed on the post 16 and vibrating in a vertical plane. The post 16 is united to an upright plate 17 which is provided with a Aflange 1S and is secured by said flange to the division plate c of the box. The upright plate 17, on its outer face below the 'flange 19, affords a shallow recess for receiving the record blank in the form of a tape 20, which is drawn against the face of plate 17 and is intended to be fed from right to left, as indicated by the arrow.

The pen proper 11 may be of any known or suitable construction and is shown as consisting of a metal trough beveled on top (see Fig. 1) at its inner end (or, in other words, at its point). It is supplied with ink which adheres to the metal (brass) suiiiciently to be drawn off slowly by adhesion to the surface of the tape 20 of paper or other suitable record blank. Such ink is a known commercial article.

At its outer end the pen is connected with the reservoir '12 having one or more ink spaces below the level of the pen, from which spaces the ink is raised to feed the pen. As shown, the pen is placed in the middle of the reservoir between two intercommunicating ink spaces whose bottoms meet like the sides of an inverted V; and the pen communicates with the interior of the reservoir through the opening 1l (Fig. 3) at about the apex of the V. As the pen is raised and lowered, by the vibration of the lever 13, 14, the reservoir 12 is tilted in consequence of its fmovement in the arc of a circle with the fulcrum of lever 13, 14 as a center, but the bottom of each ink space at one time or another is below the level of the pen feed, or, in other words, below the level to which the ink must be raised in order to supply the pen. With the feed opening 1 1 in a vertical wall of the reservoir as shown, such level must be at least as high as the bottom of the opening 11. By the tilting of the reservoir 12 the ink space on each side of the opening 11 is alternately raised and lowered with reference to the other 5 and the ink consequently flows from one ink space to the other past the pen feed opening 11. Enough ink passes through the opening 11 to keep the pen 11 supplied. An intervening elevation between the ink spaces under and in proximity to the pen feed opening l1 (such elevation being constituted by the apex of the inverted V shape of the reservoir bottom as shown) causes the ink to flow in suitable relation to the pen feed opening ll, although the quantity of ink in the reservoir may vary. On an automobile the jolting and other bodily movements to which the recorder is subjected throw up the ink from the lower level ink spaces, and so supply the pen with ink, this action being independent of the vibration of lever 13, 14.

There is a special advantage in having ink spaces on opposite sides of the pen, in that the ink to supply the pen may flow from one of them to the other and there will thus be a smaller rising at the pen feed opening Il.

This advantage would accrue irrespective of the inverted V shape ofthe reservoir bottom since, with two spaces of any shape, the tilting or jolting of the reservoir (suitably supplied with ink) might cause the ink to 'How from one space to the other, It would also to a certain extent accrue irrespective of the position of both spaces below the level of the pen feed; since the ink might spread intoa space whose bottom should not be below said level. The broad advantages of a lower level reservoir, moreover, are not dependent upon having inl; spaces on opposite sides of the pen, nor on having more than one ink space.

In the form of apparatus shown, the pen 11 is designed to press constantly against the tape 20, which is moved in the direction of its own length, thus giving a straight line when the pen l1 is stationary and a zigzag line when the pen (with lever 13, 14) is vibrated. A part straight and part zigzag line such as might be formed is indicated at 34 in Fig.. In a speed recorder, the tape 2O might be marked with vertical division lines (as shown) to indicate periods of time (say, minutes) and might be drawn along at such uniform speed that one of the corresponding spaces would pass the pen at each period (say, each minute); and the pen ll could beA moved up and down for a certain distance traversed (say, a quarter mile each one way movement or half a mile for each reciprocation) by an automobile carrying the speed recorder. Vhen the automobile should be at rest, a straight line would, of course, re-

sult; and the higher its speed, the more.

nearly vertical would be the elements of line 34 become. Assuming that each single pen stoke represents a quarter of a mile and that one space between the vertical division line on tape 20 passes the pen each minute, then, if each single pen stroke takes place precisely in one of said spaces (or in an equal distance), the speed recorder will be a quarter of a mile a minute or fifteen miles an hour. By dating the tape as shown, the speed at any hour and minute of a given date can be recorded in a form capable of preservation. By counting the number of reversals of the pens movement the distance traveled in any period of time can be ascertained.

The pen feed opening ll/ is comparatively large as opposed to a capillary orifice and the pen proper is supplied with ink from. the lower level reservoir by mechanical action in contradistinction to capillarity and cohesion. Jolting of the ink reservoir is one forni which such mechanical action may take, in order to bring the ink up to the pen. rlhe raising of an ink space relatively to the pen proper is another form.

The elongated form of the ink reservoir is advantageous. It increases the capacity and general floor space of the reservoir in comparison with the horizontal distance from front to back of the reservoir near the pens position; so that with a reservoir of such form the passing ink as it flows back and forth is brought closer to the pen than it would be were one te employ a more nearly square or a more nearly circularI reservoir of equal capacity.

I claim as my invention or discovery:

l. A recording pen provided with a lower level reservoir, the feeding of the ink from which reservoir to the pen is effected through jolting or other movement bodily of the reservoir, substantially as described.

2. A recording pen having an ink reservoir with a comparatively large, as opposed to a capillary, pen feed opening above the bottom and below the top of the reservoir, substantially as described.

3. A recording pen having a lower level ink reservoir which is provided with a pen feed opening and an elevation under and in proximity to the pen feed opening and which also has ink spaces on opposite sides of said elevation, substantially as described.

4. A recording pen having an ink reservoir with ink spaces whose bottoms meet like the sides of an inverted V, the pen feed opening being located at about the apex of the V, substantially as described.

5. A recording pen .having a .horizontally disposed elongated lower level ink reservoir with the pen proper projecting horizontally therefrom at right angles to the length of the said reservoir, substantially as described.

6. A recording pen .having a lower level ink reservoir, the feeding of the ink from which reservoir to the pen is effected by tilting the reservoir, substantially as described.

7. A recording pen having a lower level ink reservoir which is provided with' a pen feed opening and an elevation under and in proximity to the pen feed opening and which also has ink spaces on o aposite sides of said. elevation, the feeding ol the ink from said reservoir to the pen being effected by tilting the reservoir in the direction to lift one of said ink spaces relatively to the other of them, substantially as described..

8. A recording pen having a lower level name to this specification in the presence of lnk reseryon', the feedlng of the lnk from two subscrlbxng Wltnesses.

which reservoir tothe pen is effected by lnechancal action, in contradstncton to cap- CLEMENT C' CLAWSON' 5 llality and cohesion, substantially as de- Vtnesses:

scribed. PHILLIP W. BROKAW,

In testimony whereof I have Signed my JOSIAH H. TUNISON. 

